Take me or leave me
by babeitscoldoutside
Summary: Blaine's parents are not okay with him being gay. And he had prove of that in the form of bruises and cuts. What happens when one day, their car breaks down and they end up in a shop called 'Tires and Lube?
1. The good break down

„Where are you going?"

„Out."

„Where to, Blaine?"

„I'm going shopping with a friend, alright?"

"Shopping. With a friend. Would that friend happen to be a guy?"

"Yes, dad."

"Is he gay?"

"Why does it matter?"

"I asked you a question." Mr. Anderson got up from where he was sitting in his armchair and eyed his son who was standing in the hallway, his messenger bag hanging over his shoulder.

Pressing his lips together tightly, Blaine held on to the strap of his bag so hard, his knuckles went white. He didn't want to answer, he didn't want to go through this again. He was tired of it. But he also knew it would be way worse if he refused to answer.

"Yes." He finally said, trying to hold his head up high and not look intimidated by the tall figure of his father moving closer.

"Are you… a thing?" he asked, frowning. Yes, Blaine thought, in your eyes I probably _am_ a thing, but that was beside the point and now what he had asked. Still, it send him in a rage how this was his biggest problem, how he couldn't just accept him. "No, dad," he said, "Just because I'm going out with another gay boy, that doesn't mean I have to date him."

"Well you better don't. That's not gonna help you with that phase of yours."

"Damn it, dad! It's not a phase, alright? I'm into boys, start dealing with it for heavens sake!" he called out. It was just too much, he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't keep calm anymore and just take his insults every single time.

"You are not talking like this in my house." His father growled and stepped yet closer. Blaine tried his hardest not to back away, but stay put. What was he supposed to do anyways, this was ridiculous.

"Well, I am. This is who I am, I'm attracted to boys. Get over it."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Oh, because you're not the one constantly telling me not to like boys? But guess what, it's not gonna happen, I'm not changing just to please you because honestly, I don't fucking care what you think!"

_Snap._

Blaine froze and stared at his father, it took him a moment to realize what just happened. Slowly, he reached a slightly shaky hand up to his cheek to touch the hot, burning skin there. "You hit me." He whispered, eyes fixed on the still lifted hand of his father.

He just stepped closer, bumping his chest against Blaine's and sending him stumbling back. He hit the back of his head on the newel and gasped heavily. "Yes," he father said and cornered him even more. "And I am not afraid to do it again if you decide to keep that up." He growled.

Blaine reached up to feel his head and winced. As he pulled his hand back and looked at him, he hissed at the sight of blood on his fingers. He reached back again, patting at his curls. It wasn't much and it wasn't severe, but it had still happened.

He looked over and caught sight of his mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He pleaded, begged her with his eyes to come and do something, to help him somehow. But she just looked down on the bowl with potatoes and turned around, walking back in the kitchen.

That was the first time his father had hit him, and the time had found out that no one would be there to help him.

That had been a year ago.

* * *

><p>Nowadays, there was barely a time when Blaine did not have any bruises or cuts on his body, may it be directly from his father or from hitting various objects in the attempt to get away. Which never worked.<p>

Right now, they had been on their way to his grandparents – here's hope he would get a couple of days to relax and not be constantly scared there, though his grandparents were very stern and certainly not happy with his sexual orientation, he hoped that his dad would at least not beat him in front of them. But he didn't want to get his hopes up.

But only 20 minutes after they had left, the car had broken down. So they had to call a towing service and have their car brought to a garage. Blaine liked cars, kind of. He knew a little about them from his dad's previous attempts of bonding and making him straight – before he had went on to beat the crap out of him instead.

So when they arrived at the place called _Tires and Lube_, he looked around, letting his eyes wander over the different types of cars and the supplies for them.

Just when he concentrated on one specific piece that looked kind of interesting, a balding, smiling man walked towards them. He wiped his hands on an old cloth and tossed it onto a counter before he stopped in front of them.

"Welcome to Hummel's Tires and Lube, how can I help you?" he asked friendly, his eyes dancing between his mom and dad.

"The car broke down, we would really like to get going soon again, so we'd appreciate it if you'd hurry." Mr. Anderson explained coolly and the man, who's nametag said 'Burt Hummel' nodded carefully. Blaine almost wanted to apologize for his father, but then again he knew how that might end. So he just shoved his hands into his pockets and eyed the ground.

"Are you alright, son?" he suddenly asked and Blaine's head snapped back up. He had not expected that.

"I wish." He father mumbled and Mr. Hummel frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing, would you get on the car instead of pampering _him_?"

"…What?"

"Well people constantly being like that around him won't make him normal and _manly_ either, so I'd appreciate you stopping."

"Dad…" Blaine whined, still looking at his shoes.

"I'm sorry, what exactly is it you call normal?" Mr. Hummel asked and crossed his arms defensively.

"Certainly not what he has going on. Maybe if he would spend more time working on cars and playing football instead of watching musicals and singing pop songs, he would get over this… this boy-liking-phase." He spit out and Blaine's shoulder slumped even more.

"So you're going down on him for being gay, do I see this right?" he asked, straightening up. Blaine dared to lift his head and glance up to him. His face had gotten a different look, it looked like he was ready to kill and Blaine wasn't really sure why that was.

"I don't see why that would be any of your business." Mr. Hummel said, his face a blank mask.

Mr. Hummel pondered for a moment before he turned and waved to some other guy working in the back. "Joe!" he asked loudly and his head lifted. "Take care of their car, would you?"

The man nodded and came forward, introducing himself one more before he lead they way and asked the family to follow him.

Just when Blaine was about to follow, he felt a hand on his arm – and automatically jumped. Mr. Hummel immediately pulled his hand back and frowned. "Hold on a second." He said and Blaine nodded slowly. His parent's hadn't even realized he wasn't with them.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

"No, I'm serious. I see you're not." He said concerned before a different expression took over. "Is that…" he tilted his head and Blaine noticed his sleeve had slid up and was now showing his bruised wrist. Quickly he pulled it down again and looked down.

"I, uhm, hit my hand while…"

"Don't even bother." He shook his head and bit his lip.

"You should tell someone."

"I'm fine."

"No. You know what? Hold up." He turned and walked towards the counter, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling on it. When he returned and handed it to him, Blaine was looking at a phone number.

"This is my land line number. If things get worse or you need anything in general, I want you to call me, alright?"

Blaine was stunned. He couldn't believe some stranger who had no idea who he was and who had just found out he liked boys would be so nice to him. He had learned the world wasn't as kind as he wanted it to be.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked quietly.

"Because I'm tired of people being so intolerant. I fought this fight for my son already, no one deserves to have be treated like that."

"Your son?" Blaine asked carefully, not wanting to overstep.

"Yes, I have a son, he's your age. He's gay as well. I'm not letting anyone tell anybody that being gay is wrong. Because it is not." He said sternly.

Blaine just looked at him, looked at the man who was the father of a son who was like him. And he still loved him. He protected him and even gave some strange kid his number to call him if he needed help. He was looking at the definition of a perfect dad.

"Blaine!" he suddenly heard a sharp voice and turned to see his parents return.

"Yes."

"There you are, what are you doing?" Blaine shoved the piece of paper into his pocket and walked towards them.

"Nothing, we were just talking about cars." He said quietly and through he frowned, Mr. Anderson nodded.

"Whatever. We're leaving." He ordered.

As they exited the shop, Blaine turned again.

"Thank you." he mouthed.

Mr. Hummel just smiled and nodded. He really hoped this would work out.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	2. The bad break down

Two weeks later it was raining like there was no tomorrow. But Kurt didn't mind rain. As long as he was inside, that was. He wouldn't want to risk getting his hair wet. So not he was bundled up in his room and on his bed, looking at the latest issue of Vogue.

Pulling the sheets higher, he reached over to grab the cup of cocoa he had made himself. Burt was out with Carole to have dinner and Finn was at Rachel's, doing whatever, he wasn't really interested in that.

Just as he put the cup back, the phone rang. Grabbing it eagerly, he hoped it was Mercedes, he had just found the most amazing jacket and needed to tell her about it. "Hello?" he asked happily, flipping another page.

"Mr. – Mr. Hummel?" the voice on the other end asked.

"No." Kurt laughed slightly; normally he was mistaken for his mom if someone called. But for a fact, that caller didn't sound much older than himself. "It's his son. Who's there?"

"Oh." There was a longer pause and Kurt looked at the phone, looking if the person had hung up, but he hadn't. "This is Blaine. I- Well your dad gave me your number and – never mind. I'm sorry for bothering you." He sighed.

Blaine. Blaine. Something was ringing in his head when he heard that name. He felt like it had been mentioned before…

Oh gosh, of course! His dad had talked about him a few weeks ago and told him he had given him his number for emergencies. And now he was calling. In the blink of an eye, he sat up straight in his bed.

"No, hold on. What's wrong?" he asked. His dad had also told him how broken the boy had looked and how he had tried to hide his wrist. If something was off, Kurt wanted to help.

"It's just – crap." Kurt frowned as he heard something in the background that sounded like a car and water and –

"Oh god, are you outside?"

"Yeah…"

"What happened?"

"My parents kicked me out." He explained drily, no hint of emotion in his voice. Kurt knew he himself got like hat when he was too upset for words and even too upset to cry.

He tried to wrap his mind around what he as hearing and after a few seconds, another sound of a car and splashing water was heard through the phone which brought him back to reality. "Where are you?" he asked simply.

"I… I don't know. On some street."

"What do you see?"

"There… there's a football field, I think."

Kurt nodded slowly and thought. "Oh, there's one at the school. I know where you are. Stay put, I'll come pick you up." He promised and hung up. So he scrambled out of bed, threw a pair of jeans on over his pyjama pants and a jacket over his shirt. Before leaving, he took a blanket from the couch, grabbed a key and ran outside.

It was still pouring as he reached the car and he was more than glad he had taken a jacket, otherwise he would be wet to his bones by now. He hopped into his car and hurried down the streets, though due to all the water, he couldn't drive quite as fast as he wanted to.

When he finally reached the school, he drove to the corner of the street from where he knew the football field was visible. Looking around, he finally spotted a figure at the side of the road a few meters down from where he was and manoeuvred his car there, pulling to a stop right next to him. It had to be him, who else would stand in the pouring rain if he had a choice?

So he jumped out of the car, the vague figure slowly getting clearer – and his breath hitching. The boy looked absolutely miserable. Not that he was bad looking, god no, he was anything but. But Kurt couldn't let himself go there and honestly, didn't even want to right now.

The point was, his black curly were dripping wet and sticking to his head, the suitcase he was leaning against obviously had been splashed by passing cars a couple of times and he himself was shivering in his soaking wet clothes. Kurt realized he was just standing there in the rain as well after a few moments and quickly stepped closer.

"Blaine?"

"Kurt?"

So it was him, it was always good to make sure, he guessed.

"Get in the car!" he ordered and grabbed his suitcase. They could talk when they were somewhere where they wouldn't both get sick for sure. Preferably his house. So he grabbed his suitcase and dragged it off towards his car, motioning for the passenger's side with one hand as he threw the case into the trunk. It wasn't heavy at all, in fact it was way too light, but they could talk about that later.

When Kurt got back into the car, Blaine was on his seat already, still shivering. That was when he remembered he had brought a blanket for this exact reason. So he leaned back and grabbed it from the backseat. "Here," he muttered as he draped it around his trembling shoulders. The other boy nodded thankfully and pulled it tighter around himself.

His eyes looked kind of puffy, but not like he had been crying, rather like he had tried not to for a long time. Kurt had no idea what to say. So he started driving. The drive wasn't long but it felt like ages because it was filled with a silence when neither of them knew how to start the conversation that obviously had to be held.

When they arrived, Kurt got out of the car first and went to grab the suitcase before he led Blaine inside. Dropping the case to the ground right inside, he finally stopped to really look at them once they were out of the rain. He really was dripping and looked like he was about to freeze to death. "Did you bring pyjamas? Or anything to sleep in?" he asked, eyeing is tiny suitcase.

"…No. They- I- and then-" he stuttered but broke off, sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. Kurt carefully reached out to place a hand on his arm. He usually wasn't touchy-feely at all, but he certainly looked like he needed some comfort. "That's okay, I'll lend you some of my stuff." Of course not any designer pieces though.

So he raced up the stairs, ripped some drawers open and returned downstairs with a pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt in no time. "Alright, you get out of those wet clothes and I set up a few things and we talk when you're done, okay?" he asked shyly. He didn't really know how to deal with that, part of him wanted his dad home. Or even Finn, he felt like he would envelop him in a bug, brotherly hug and tell him everything would be alright. Kurt wasn't the type for that.

But Blaine nodded and trotted of into the direction where Kurt had pointed out the bathroom was. While he was gone, Kurt slipped off his jeans and jacket again. Normally, he wouldn't let anyone – maybe Mercedes and Rachel but even that was doubtful – see him like that, but he didn't have enough time to change right now. Besides, he highly doubted Blaine was in the condition to really pay attention to how he looked anyways.

So Kurt grabbed a dry blanket and the phone and walked over to the couch, settling down and waiting. In the meanwhile, he called his dad's cell phone and left him a message about the whole situation. After a few minutes, Blaine returned. His clothes were a little big on him – no, Kurt would not think he looked cute because of that right now – but they were alright. He softly patted the spot next to him and watched as Blaine dropped down there.

Another long moment of silence followed before Kurt decided to speak again. "Would… would you mind telling me what happened? I know you don't know me and if you don't want to, that's alright, I just –" he trailed off, waving his hands around.

Blaine nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the back of the couch. "My dad… he's not exactly the most accepting guy. About… my sexual orientation." He started quietly. It was the first time he really told anyone about this.

"We've had problems with that for a long time, it started to get worse a year ago. Then today…" he swallowed thickly and pressed his eyes shut harder. "I was going to go to dinner with a friend. The only other gay boy I know. And my dad went crazy about it again. I kept telling him it's only a friendly thing but he didn't really believe me. And then I made the mistake to…" he coughed awkwardly and Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"I kind of told him that – I may have used different words and phrases – if I wanted to sleep with a guy, I'd do that and not ask for his permission. And he- he just, god I have never seen him this way. He-" he broke of and bit his lip, but a chocked sob still escaped his lips.

So maybe Kurt was that type after all because he couldn't just sit around and watched the boy cry. It seemed like he had held it back for so long, hadn't wanted his parents to have the victory and see him like that but now the walls were breaking down.

So he scooted closer and timidly wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Instantly, he leaned into it and basically threw himself at him. _Oh, okay_. So maybe Blaine was a little more touchy-feely or maybe he just needed someone to hold on to in that moment. So Kurt decided to be that one and slowly curled his arms around him.

He started to experimentally rub at his back, hoping that this would be any good, when Blaine suddenly jumped. He pulled away a little and stared into his tear-stained face with questioning eyes. "Blaine…" he started but the boy just shook his head.

"Are you-"

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Please, just drop it," he pleaded and Kurt didn't have the heart to press further, though he was determined to do so eventually. So when he didn't say anything, Blaine exhaled heavily and leaned against him again. For some reason, Kurt didn't mind, though normally too much physical contact freaked him out.

"He told me I had half an hour to pack my stuff. Now I barely have clothes. I'm so sorry for just barging in like that, I don't want to intrude or anything." He whispered and Kurt sighed. "You don't. This is what my dad gave you his number for."

"I don't know what to do." He admitted in a whisper and closed his eyes again, obviously trying to hold the tears in.

"You're going to stay here tonight," Kurt decided and squeezed his arm a little. Really, where was the sudden confidence coming from? "And tomorrow, we figure something out." He promised and Blaine nodded slowly.

"Thanks Kurt."

"No Problem."

* * *

><p>When Burt and Carole got home that night after him having listened to the message Kurt had left, he found two fast asleep boys on the couch. Blaine looked like his head might fall off in his position against the armrest of the couch while Kurt looked very comfortable, curled up next to him and leaning against Blaine. Burt didn't mind to wake them, but tip-toed over and spread the blanket over both of them.<p>

"Sleep tight." He whispered before he left and joined Carole upstairs.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	3. Stay

When Blaine woke up, something was off. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but it was there. Somehow, he wasn't really comfortable at all. And normally, his bed was really cosy.

So he forced his eyes open and blinked a couple of times – yeah, that wasn't the ceiling of his room. In fact, that wasn't his bed either. He was on a couch and his head was hanging in a rather weird angle off of it. Where the hell was he and _why_ was he here?

Oh right. Of course. Everything started to come back to him in bright flashbacks.

"_Are you going out again?"_

"_Yes, dad. I am."_

"_Where are you going?"_

"_I'm going to dinner."_

"_With that same guy you went shopping earlier?"_

"_Yes."_

_His dad stepped closer, frowning and Blaine immediately backed off. He had learned to do that by now. __"I don't want you to go."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because if you keep hanging out with those fags, you'll never get over it and go back to being normal!" he shouted and Blaine flinched. That was it, that was everything he could take. _

"_Damn it, I'm gay and that's not going to change! And if I decide to fuck that guy, I will. I'm not going to ask you for permission!"_

Blaine's face screwed up just thinking about all of this.

_His father's face changed, went form annoyed to pure anger… and possible a hint of hate. The next thing he knew was him being shoved backwards, falling against the cupboard and hitting his back hard enough to leave cuts on it._

The cuts he could still feel on his back.

He remembered ending up on the floor at some point, remembered his dad above him and remembered more pain before it finally all ended. He remembered his mom tugging at his dad's arm and telling him to stop, it's not worth it, he'll just hurt himself in the end. And then, he remembered being told to go and back his stuff, he had half an hour before he had to be out and better never came back.

And that was why he was here now. Kurt had picked him up and let him sleep here. Speaking of Kurt, where was he?

Blaine yawned and shifted slightly, trying to sit up a little better and – oh. _There_ he was. He looked down to the boy curled up against him, obviously the reason why he had spent the entire night almost breaking his neck.

Now that he had moved, he seemed to wake up as well, his nose scrunched up and he yawned lightly before stretching his arms up into the air, causing Blaine to duck his head to avoid getting slapped in the face. Honestly, he looked like a kitten. But he couldn't let himself think that.

Slowly, his eyes opened and he looked around, Blaine watched a cute – strike that – frown appear on his face as his head slowly turned, he was obviously trying to figure out why exactly he had slept on the couch.

Then finally, his eyes wandered over the last few inches before they caught sight of Blaine. He stared for a split second before he jumped off of him with wide eyes. "Oh my god." He muttered, pressing a hand to his heart. For the first time in ages, Blaine chuckled.

"Sorry." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck as he sat up straight. Holy god, that one was sore.

"No, I just – did I sleep on you?" he cut himself off and tilted his head. His face was flushed with a slight pink as he asked and Blaine smiled softly.

"Yeah, I think so." He nodded. And took a deep breath, trying to stretch his back out which was hurting a little as well.

"Oh, uhm, I'm sorry." Kurt pouted awkwardly and laced his fingers together in his lap, looking down onto them.

"No, don't worry. It's alright. I'm just really thankful you let me sleep here in the first place." He said quietly, mirroring Kurt's expression by now as he stared down into his lap.

"Of course." Kurt nodded shyly and glanced back up.

That was when Burt entered the living room. "Oh, I see you two decided to wake up." He smiled softly, lifting the two cups of coffee he was holding up into the air.

"Yeah," Kurt blushed even more as he realized they had been covered with a blanket and he hadn't done that for sure. So his dad must have found them last night. Amazing. "We fell asleep while talking last night. I take it you got my message?"

Burt nodded and handed them both a cup of coffee. "Good morning, sir." Blaine threw in, deciding he couldn't just sit here and drink that men's coffee after he had spend the night here and not say anything at all.

Mr. Hummel just nodded with a smile and sat down on the armchair opposite to them, eyeing the two boys for a moment as Kurt scrambled to sit up straight as well and pulled the blanket higher over himself. "What happened?" he finally asked.

Blaine told his story as well, managing not to break down like he had before, but a few tears still escaped his eyes. Kurt awkwardly edged about an inch closer and quickly patted his arm, flushing the second he did so. He really was no good at this. But Blaine lifted his head, wiped at his face and gave him a thankful, little smile. Maybe he wasn't so bad either.

As he finished, Burt nodded slowly, thinking about the whole situation. "So I suppose you don't have anywhere to stay?" he asked slowly.

"I could ask my grandparents I guess. I mean they're not okay with me being gay either and I'd probably forbidden to even see a boy from a 10 feet distance, but I hope that they wouldn't…" he shrugged. Kurt shot his back a look and raised his eyebrows. So far, he hadn't mentioned violence once single time, but from obvious evidence, he was pretty sure it had been there.

"No, that's the point. You shouldn't have to hide. And I' most certainly not letting you go back there." He decided and Blaine shrugged slightly, taking a sip from his coffee. It had been forever since someone had made him coffee the last time.

"Well, I don't know where else to go." He admitted quietly, suddenly very interested in the coffee cup.

"Dad…" Kurt tilted his head in a meaningful way and nodded towards the boy next to him, then the staircase.

Burt sighed and nodded slowly. "I was thinking that anyways, Kurt."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. I still need to talk to Carole, but I think we should manage."

Blaine looked from one of them to the other one before he worked up the courage to speak. "Uhm… I'm sorry?" he asked shyly.

"You have nowhere to stay, is that accurate?" Mr. Hummel asked and Blaine nodded in return.

"Well, we have a spare guestroom upstairs. So if you want to, we'd love to offer you to stay here."

Blaine's mouth hung open. Was he serious? He had met this man 2 weeks ago and hadn't even seen him since then. He knew nothing about Blaine besides the fact that he was gay and his parents had thrown him out and still, here he was, offering him to live at his house.

"That-that is-" he swallowed thickly. Apparently he really was in the mood for tears today, but he was determined to keep them in this time. "That is so kind, but I really don't want to force myself upon you, sir."

Burt rolled his eyes and waved it off. "The house is big enough, the room is never used anyways. Of course you can stay here. I'll have a talk with your dad though to make sure he really knows about all of this, I don't want any trouble about that to come."

Blaine didn't know what to say. "I-I can't just accept that." He gasped quietly and now it was Kurt's turn to sigh. "Of course you can."

"But- I don't want to intrude or annoy any of you."

"I'm living with a guy who told his best friend his mom had his prostate removed." Kurt commented drily. "I think if I can cope with that, I'll be able to get along just fine with you."

Blaine blinked a couple of times, trying to decide if that was hilarious or very, very sad.

"He did?" Burt asked in the meantime and Kurt nodded, looking like he couldn't really believe it himself. "I really should have a talk with him again soon… Was that before my last one?" he asked. Kurt sighed and blushed just a little. "Yes, dad. That was a while back, before… the whole Quinn thing." Burt nodded but still seemed to ponder about it.

"So, you're staying." Kurt said. It wasn't a question, but a decision.

How did Blaine deserve to meet so many, so nice people and have them offer him shelter? He felt like crying all over again. He really needed to stop being so soppy.

"I-oh god, thank you." He choked out. Being the kind of person he was, it was either tackle a pillow or Kurt, and hugging inanimate objects might be weird, so he threw himself at the other boy. He was touchy-feely, yes, but he normally didn't attack people like that. But then again, people normally didn't just tell him he could easily stay at their house either. And somehow, he trusted Kurt. He didn't know why, but he did. And it felt kind of good.

Kurt froze for a moment, awkwardly looking at his dad who pouted slightly and eyed the two of them, but didn't say anything. So he slowly brought his arms up to pat at his back. "You're welcome." He mumbled into the shoulder that was pressing into his mouth.

That was when Finn entered the room, a bowl of cereal in his hand. He stopped as he saw the small gathering on the couch and armchair. "Did I miss any family meeting?" he mumbled as he was still chewing on a mouthful of cereal.

"No." Kurt commented as Blaine awkwardly pulled back and sat up straight.

"Who's that?" Finn asked and swallowed.

"Blaine. He'll be living with us." Kurt announced, knowing big and long stories would just confuse his dear step-brother.

Finn just looked at him for a moment, absentmindedly stirring in his bowl. "Do you like football?" he finally asked. Blaine frowned slightly.

"Yeah…"

"And videogames?"

"Yes."

"Awesome, cool you're staying here, dude." Finn approved and shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth before he trotted away towards his room.

With an unsure expression on his face, Blaine turned towards Kurt.

"That was the prostate-guy." He explained with a shrug.

"Ah," Blaine made. Well, living here would most certainly not be boring, that much was sure.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	4. Erase and Rewind

So the next day passed without any bigger problems. Burt talked to Blaine's dad and made sure he was sure about all of this. Let's just say he made it very clear he was. Burt did manage to get some more clothes from him though, so Blaine had a somewhat decent closet.

He moved into the spare guestroom, in the middle of Kurt's and Finn's room, spending a lot of time in the latter as he was forced to play videogames with Finn all the time. It appeared Kurt wasn't really into that, so his step-brother took advantage of having someone there who was willing to go for it.

Things were better. Things were non-violent. But it still was strange, it was weird waking up in a new house and not in his own bed and seeing different people than he was used to.

It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that another thing occurred to them. "Blaine?" Burt asked as they all sat at the table for lunch. Kurt and Carole had cooked and were pretty proud of their creation. "Yes, sir?" he asked and raised his head.

"I told you to stop calling me sir." He smiled slightly and waved it off with a potato-armed fork. "Anyways, what came to my mind earlier: Where do you go to school?"

And that was when Blaine's face fell. And with that, his fork that dropped to the plate. He hadn't even thought about school. "Damn," he muttered and rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm sorry. This – this is not gonna work. I can't-" he sighed heavily and leaned back into the chair, feeling everyone's eyes on him.

"What is it, sweetie?" Carole asked, but Blaine just shook his head.

"Blaine," Kurt said lowly and put his fork down as well, glancing over to where the boy was seated next to him.

"Dalton." Blaine finally said. No one else said something, they had no clue what that meant.

That was, until realisation appeared on Kurt's face. "Dalton Academy." He said and Blaine nodded. Burt frowned at him, obviously questioning how he knew about that. "We're supposed to compete against them at Sectionals! The Dalton Academy Warblers, right?" he asked. "Do you know them?"

Blaine laughed drily. "Yes, I do."

Kurt nodded, "Okay, so you go there. What's the problem?"

"The problem is, that this is a private school. That you need to pay for. And my dad will not do that anymore now. So I suppose… I can't go there anymore." He confessed and slumped down in his chair even more.

"Oh." Was all everyone on the table said – everyone but Finn who was chasing a pea with his fork. Only now, he looked up. "Well that's no problem, is it? You can just go to school with us, dude." He shrugged before going back to his very resistant pea.

Burt rocked his head from side to side, actually considering what Finn had said. "I think that might really be the best option." He finally said.

"I think so too. And that has to mean something, I'm agreeing with Finn here!" Kurt grinned.

"Hey!" his step-brother pouted and attempted to shoot the pea at him but was stopped by a glare from Carole.

"No, really. You could go to McKinley with Finn and Kurt. If we decide now, the transfer might be happening by Monday." Burt said, eyeing Blaine, waiting for a response.

"Well… I suppose that is the _only_ option right now anyways, so… yeah." He nodded. "I'll just call one of my friends and let them know." He added. All of them nodded and then Blaine was off to do the call.

"I'll get at it as well." Burt said, grabbing his phone as well and making sure that Blaine Anderson would be a student of the William McKinley High from next Monday on.

* * *

><p>After Blaine had finished his call, he was seated on the bed in his room, absentmindedly toying with his phone when a knock on the door made him look up.<p>

"Hey," Kurt greeted softly as he stuck his head in.

"Hey," Blaine smiled back, though the smile wasn't really that happy.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Blaine shifted to allow Kurt to sit down on the bed as well.

"This all really sucks, huh?" he asked softly as he sat down and crossed his legs under himself.

"Yeah, kind of. I mean, it's amazing that I'm allowed to stay here. Your dad is wonderful and I couldn't be more thankful. But it it's just a lot, you know? Losing my family from one day to another, now losing my friends. Or at least not seeing them so often."

"Yeah, I can imagine. How was Dalton?" he asked gently, wriggling a little to make himself comfortable.

"It was… nice. They had a zero-tolerance bullying policy, so it was safe, you know? No one would call me names or… be violent." There was a little hint of an emotion in his voice as he said those last words and Kurt couldn't quite put his finger on what kind of emotion it was, but he understood. The kids weren't violent. But only the kids.

"But maybe it's a good thing." He threw in and Kurt raised one eyebrow in surprise. "How is that?"

"Well, as I said, it was safe. But that's the point. After High School, the world will not be like Dalton, the world has no such policy. People will continue to be ignorant and mean and I will have to live with that. So right now, I feel like I'm hiding away. But that's no good, once I graduate, I'll have to cope with it anyways. So why not get used to it now?" he shrugged.

Kurt got it, he was scared as hell of simply going to school most days – though god beware him telling that to Blaine – but he knew he would have to del with that and possibly worse for the rest of his life, so there might not be a point in running away. But he couldn't deny he had felt like it often enough.

He realized that this was the first time he was really talking to someone who went through the same, who understood. "Have you… do you have any… gay friends?" he asked shyly and looked at his hands.

"Yeah. I met a few at Dalton, hence me being thrown out of my house."

"I never met anyone." Kurt confessed quietly, still eyeing the nail of his right thumb that was pretty interesting all the sudden. He had talked to Mercedes and Rachel, but he had never had someone who shared the same struggles and who felt the same way. This was different but felt amazingly good. "It's nice."

"It is." Blaine agreed, his eyes focused on Kurt who was still not looking back. "Are you alright?"

Kurt's head snapped back up, he wasn't used to anyone but his closest friends and his dad or Carole asking that. He wasn't used to people caring. "Oh, yeah…" he waved it off.

Blaine was about to point out that he didn't look like he was alright, but Kurt was already talking again. "So, you know the Warblers?" he asked.

"I do, yes." Blaine smiled slightly.

"Are they good?"

"I suppose so?"

"I hear…" he edged a little closer, like a teenage girl about to gossip. And honestly, he was about to do exactly that. "I hear their lead singer is really cute." He whispered conspiratorially.

Blaine blinked at him for a moment before he burst out in laughter. Really, he was laughing loudly, he hadn't done that in forever. Kurt pouted and crossed his arms. "What is so funny? Do you know him? Is he really?"

Blaine held his stomach and wiped at his eye as he caught his breath again. "Yeah, well… he's sitting right in front of you, so you judge for yourself." He giggled.

Kurt's face fell before it blushed scarlet red. Well… shit. He could hardly tell Blaine that people had indeed been right. That would be creepy and embarrassing. He needed to find some good answer, where the hell was his natural wit when he needed it?

"Oh." He said.

_Wonderful_.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	5. World of Chances

Monday came faster than expected, Blaine had spend the entire Sunday with Kurt who had taken it upon him to make sure he looked alright on his first day at McKinley. After they had agreed that maybe he couldn't pull of some of the outfits Kurt wore – who could, Kurt asked, he was a unique fashion god, no one could reach him – he was now in a pair of simple black jeans, a white V-neck and a red cardigan over it.

Finn had left already, he had said something about a forgotten anniversary and had practically left the house running to stop by at the gas station before school – very classy – while Burt and Carole were out for work. That left the two teenage boys and their toasts on the couch where they went over Blaine's schedule.

Or more like, Blaine was going over it, Kurt had gone very silent, he hadn't even said a complete sentence since getting up. "Are you alright?" Blaine finally asked after he had asked Kurt where his biology room was three times and hadn't gotten an answer one single time.

Kurt snapped out of it and focused on the boy in front of him. "Yeah, yeah of course, why wouldn't I?" he asked and put on a smile. But Blaine could see, it didn't reach his eyes.

"I don't know. I can see something is wrong though. Now you don't _have_ to tell me, I just want you to know that you can." He gave him a small smile. Kurt and his family had done so much for him and he had started to really care about Kurt, he was a very, very nice guy so he was determined to help him out if he needed it.

"I just really like weekends. I never want them to end."

"Yeah me neither…" Blaine frowned; this could hardly be about being sad that the weekend was over, could it?

"I mean I _really_ don't want them to end.

"I got that."

"No, I- I'm scared, Blaine." He admitted quietly, focusing on the toast he had only take a single bite from. But suddenly a hand reached over and took the plate from him to put it down on the coffee table, leaving him empty-handed.

"Why is that?" the owner of the hand in question asked and tilted his head. His eyes were so honest and truly concerned; it made Kurt's heart swell for some reason. A reason he didn't want to get behind just yet. Or at all.

"It's school." He said quietly. "I didn't want to tell you before because I didn't want to scare you off, but…" he swallowed thickly. Very nice of him to tell him this _now_ and completely freak him out only half an hour before they had to leave. "there's this guy. He and his friends seem to have it made their mission to make me miserable every single day." He whispered.

"They throw me in dumpsters, they shove me around, they call me names and then…" he broke off as a little whine escaped his lips. He couldn't go on, he had told no one about this. He had promised not to tell a single soul because he knew, if he did, this might end badly.

"Kurt, then what?" Blaine asked softly and edged a little closer, resting a hand on his back. "Tell me." He urged and Kurt couldn't hold it in anymore. He couldn't have Blaine be so nice and caring and not say it. He had been alone with it for far too long, it was driving him insane.

"Then he kissed me." He whimpered and bit down on his lip to keep himself from crying. His attempts were, however, destroyed when two strong arms curled around his neck and tugged him over. He didn't fight it, he didn't have the strength for it, besides if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to fight it in the first place.

So he allowed Blaine to pull him closer until he was curled up next to him and quietly crying into his shoulder. Sure, his dad had let him do that and so had Mercedes and Rachel would probably too, but not a single boy had ever tried to get a hold of him and simply _hold him_, let alone someone gay who understood. He was suddenly very thankful for the fact that his dad's car had broken down not far from the Hummel's garage.

"It was my first real kiss." He muttered into the fabric of his shirt and Blaine leaned his head against his as he kept his hand moving in circles over his back. "I'm sorry it was like that." He said quietly.

"He said if I told anyone, he'd kill me. I really didn't want my first kiss to be followed by a death threat." He spit out and felt Blaine nod. "I wouldn't want mine to be like that either, but-"

"So you haven't had…" Kurt interrupted him and sat up again, leaving Blaine's arms hanging in the air where he had been just a second ago. "No," he said and dropped his arms again. "You look surprised." He commented with a slight frown.

"Oh, no, it's just – I don't know, you look like you did – never mind." He groaned and blushed as he dropped his head back against the couch.

Blaine chuckled lightly at the adorableness – he was allowed to think that, right? – in front of him. "No, I've done nothing." He smiled.

Kurt sighed and forced his eyes open, trying to focus on his schedule. "Well, this was awkward." He muttered and grabbed for the piece of paper.

"No, it's okay." Blaine smiled, "we can talk about things like that."

Kurt gave him a little, shy smile and nodded before sighing and looking back at the task at hand.

"So. Your biology room."

* * *

><p>About an hour later, the car pulled to a stop in front of the school – and Kurt was literally shaking in his boots as he got out of the car. In hindsight, Blaine was glad he had managed to properly park his car like this.<p>

"Kurt," he said soothingly as he stepped up next to him. The other boy looked at him with an unsure expression. "I'm sorry. This is your first day, if anyone is allowed to be nervous it's you and not me. I'm exaggerating." He mumbled.

"No, don't worry. It's okay." He smiled.

And then he stuck his hand out towards Kurt. He looked at it for a moment, insecurely glancing back at Blaine. He just waved it around a little more and kept his smile. So before he accidently hit Kurt in the face, he slowly reached out and took it. He had no idea why. But it felt good, he didn't feel so alone anymore, he felt like he had someone to hold on to.

"Thank you." He whispered as they got closer to the entrance. Blaine squeezed his hand and shook his head. "No need to thank me. You're my friend Kurt, you were there for me and now I'm here for you."

Kurt smiled slightly and took a deep breath as he pushed the door open with his free hand. "Welcome at McKinley." He said over the instant noise that hit them. People were chatting loudly, laughing, joking. Blaine looked around. Well, that was certainly different from Dalton.

"What's your first class?" Kurt asked and Blaine searched his bag for the piece of paper. "Social studies." He announced.

That's when Finn reappeared. "Me too!" he exclaimed happily. "I'll walk you there." He decided and grabbed his arm, tugging him along and causing Kurt to stumble after him a little before he let go of his hand. Blaine shot him an apologizing look, but Kurt just chuckled and waved it off since he had already spotted Mercedes waiting at his locker.

"I'll see you in Glee club?" he called hopefully and Blaine gave him a thumb-up.

"So, I have this new videogame, dude, it's _awesome_. There are those guys that try to kidnap that girl and then…" Finn stared excitedly as he dragged the shorter boy along.

Kurt lovingly shook his head and turned around to accompany Mercedes.

* * *

><p>TBC<p> 


	6. I turn to you

The first periods passed rather quickly, mostly because Kurt was questioned by Mercedes who that guy was and because Finn wouldn't shut up about his video game towards Blaine.

Finally though, Glee club came around. Kurt decided to wait outside; he couldn't throw Blaine into the craziness right away, now could he? So when Finn and him finally arrived, Finn chatting excitedly while Blaine was simply nodded politely, he exhaled relieved. At least he was alright, at this school, you never knew.

"Hey," he smiled happily as the two of them approached them. "Hey, Kurt, have I told you-" Finn started, but he cut him off. "Finn, if I were you, I'd get inside there _right now._ Did you honestly buy Rachel a bouquet from the gas station? She's throwing a fit, save you butt before Mr. Schue arrives." He suggested.

Finn's face dropped. "Oh shit." He muttered and pushed past the tow of them and into the room.

"How was your day?" Kurt asked with a small smile.

"Actually pretty good so far. Finn told me _all_ about that video game." He grinned.

"Oh I believe he did. Are you ready to dive into the crazy?"

"I think so." He agreed with a chuckle.

So they entered the room side by side.

Oh, okay. Blaine stopped in his movement for a moment. The hallways had been crowded already and there had been loads of people, but this was something else. This was nothing near what he was used to from the Warblers.

In the middle of a room, a short girl stood and was obviously taking a very small looking Finn down. And that was saying something, considering he was towering over all of them.

In the first row, a blonde girl was seated who looked slightly annoyed and straightened her dress out while the Asian couple next to her were making out. Blaine raised his eyebrows, well, they certainly didn't have problems with PDA.

In the top row, a Latina had her legs thrown over the lap of a blonde girl and was playing with a strand of her hair as they were talking.

A boy with a Mohawk was trying to cuddle up to another girl in the back, but she simply shoved his arm and almost sent him falling off his chair.

Well, this certainly looked like a fun group. A black girl who was currently talking to a boy in a wheelchair and another blonde one suddenly raised her head and caught sight of the two boys standing in the doorway.

"Kurt!" she called happily and with that, everyone stopped what they were doing. Suddenly, all eyes were on them. Well, if that wasn't awkward.

Kurt sighed heavily and took another few steps forward, motioning for Blaine to follow him.

So Blaine let Kurt lead him to a couple of free chair in the front row and unsurely sat down next to him.

The room was still pretty silent. "Who's that?" the blonde girl sitting a few seats next to them finally asked the question everyone had been dying to ask.

"Yeah, who's the hottie you brought along here, Hummel?" the Latina called from the back.

"San." The girl over who's lap she had her legs muttered and looked a little upset. "What?" she asked and held her head up high before she scrambled off of her and strutted down the few stairs, dropping down next to him. "So?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jesus Christ," Kurt muttered as he saw the startled look on Blaine's face. "Blaine, meet Santana. Santana, this is Blaine. He's living with Finn and me." He explained. Better get over it now before things got even weirder.

"Wanky." She commented and edged closer, bumping her shoulder against Blaine's which effectively caused him to slip a little closer to Kurt. "San, drop it!" Kurt shook his head. "Why? He's hot. I'm hot. We could have _really_ steamy sex." She suggested with a sly smirk.

"What?" Blaine piped up, a look of horror in his face as he was basically crawling up to Kurt in his attempt to put space between him and the girl.

"Don't mind her, she's always like that." Kurt shook his head. He had grown to kind of like her, but that didn't mean he didn't get to make fun of her.

"What do you say, curly?" Santana asked, completely ignoring what Kurt had just said and reached out to place a hand on his thigh. And that was when Blaine freaked. He literally jumped off his chair at the sudden touch.

He had grown familiar to Kurt's touch, but he hadn't expected that and suddenly there had been flashbacks and it was too much. His face was screwed up in fear, his eyes wide and he was trembling slightly.

"Wow, wow." Santana said, slightly shocked as he raised her hands soothingly. "Calm down. I'm not going to eat you up. At least not here and now." She commented. Kurt was blazing with rage.

"Santana, would you shut up one single time?" he snapped. Santana, who was not used to him being like that just raised one eyebrow and got up, going back to sit next to Brittany who demonstratively crossed her arms and avoided looking at her. So she snorted and crossed her legs, looking very much upset as well.

"Blaine," Kurt said quietly in the meantime. He was still stood in the middle of the room, slightly shaking and staring straight ahead while everyone else was just watching. "Blaine, look at me." He begged and edged a little closer.

But he didn't. So he closed the last space between them until he was face to face with him. "It's just me, Kurt. I'll touch you now, okay?" he said and carefully reached out to place a hand on his arm. When he didn't flinch back, Kurt rubbed his thumb soothingly over the fabric for a moment before moving both hands to his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.

He hadn't known it was that bad. Lately, Blaine had been pretty normal, he hadn't flinched much; he had been like any other teenage boy. But Kurt had already figured that his dad hadn't only yelled at him and was now proved right. He knew, they would need to have a talk about that soon, but obviously that was not the place or time.

"So, I hear we have a new student to –" Mr. Schue cut himself off and froze when he saw what was going on. The tension in the air was almost physical and the two boys hugging in the middle of the room weren't a sign of happiness either.

"What is going on?" he asked slowly.

No one answered. Kurt just slowly pulled back and met Blaine's eye. "You okay?" he whispered and Blaine nodded slowly. "Thank you." He mouthed.

Kurt softly shook his head and grabbed his hand to pull him back to the chair and sit him down.

Mr. Schue still stood, slightly awkward, in the middle of the room and looked around. "Okay…" he frowned and moved over to the piano, putting down his bag on it.

"I was saying. I hear there's a new addition to us. Blaine Anderson?" he asked as he looked at the boy seated next to Kurt. He was still holding on to his hand.

"Yes. Yeah." Blaine blinked a couple of times as he tried to relax a little and come down. It had just been Santana, just a girl who had been a little over-ambitious. He took a deep breath and looked over at Kurt.

"You don't have to right now. You can audition tomorrow." He whispered back, but Blaine refused to. He would have to get used to people touching him. So he shook his head, squeezed his hand one last time and pulled himself to his feet before he walked to the middle of the room, standing by Mr. Schue.

"Okay, thanks. I, uhm, I'm Blaine and this is my first day. I had a bit of trouble and because of that I'm now living with Kurt and Finn." He explained. He didn't really want to go into detail, but he figured he would have to reveal that much at one time or another anyways.

"Anyways, the song I picked is for someone I owe a lot." He said, his eyes locked on Kurt, leaving no doubt who that person was. "May I?" he asked Mr. Schue and gestured towards the piano. The men quickly nodded. "Yeah, sure." He grabbed his bag and instead dropped it to the ground as Blaine took a seat. He gave Kurt another smile before he started playing the first few chords. And then, he started singing.

_When I'm lost in the rain  
>In your eyes I know I'll find the light<br>To light my way  
>And when I'm scared<br>And losing ground  
>When my world is going crazy<br>You can turn it all around_

_And when I'm down you're there  
>Pushing me to the top<br>You're always there giving me all you've got_

_For a shield from the storm  
>For a friend, for a love<br>to keep me safe and warm  
>I turn to you<br>For the strength to be strong  
>For the will to carry on<br>For everything you do  
>For everything that's true<br>I turn to you_

When he finished, the room was silent for a second. That was until a single gasp from Kurt echoed through it, after that everything broke lose. The entire club was cheering and a few girls were even wiping their eyes. Rachel, who tried to get rid of the tear running down her cheek, punched Finn. "He sings that song to him just because and you buy me stupid flours from the gas station to our anniversary!"

Blaine smiled and blushed to a light pink which was the most adorable thing Kurt had ever seen. He was so in love with him it wasn't even – oh hold it right there. Had he really just thought that? This couldn't be happening; he had promised himself to not fall for the first gay boy he met. But what was he supposed to do if this wonderful person sang songs to him and held his hand and held him when he cried? It was impossible not to fall in love.

But he knew from past experience, that it was better to shut up about it and not say anything. He knew things could get awkward and he didn't want Blaine to think he was some creep who is going to jump his bones now that he's living with him. He had had enough stuff happening to him in his life lately, he doesn't need more drama. So Kurt wouldn't provide any.

But now Blaine was coming over and sat back down and god, he was so close and Kurt couldn't even breathe properly. "Was that okay?" he whispered while everyone else was still cheering. Kurt swallowed the lump in his throat down and nodded. "It was beautiful." And so are you, he added mentally.

Blaine looked relieved and allowed himself to look around. At one point, he caught sight of Santana who was looking at him as if trying to figure out what the deal with him was and why the hell he hadn't been all up to get down and dirty with her.

"Look, I'm sorry," he started, but she cut him off. "It's your loss, darling. You'll regret not wanting what's hidden underneath those clothes." She pouted and wriggled in her chair, trying to be nonchalant as he stuck her boobs out.

Blaine chocked a little but scrunched his nose up. "Yeah, no." he said carefully.

"I'm very much gay."

In that moment, everyone had decided to stop cheering. So his words were loud and clear in the sudden silence.

And while Santana looked very relieved and satisfied, Finn, who had been living with the boy, looked the most confused.

"Really, dude?" he asked and tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah…" Blaine couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's obliviousness.

"Cool. So, about that videogame again…"

Both Blaine and Kurt groaned and dropped their heads. And Finn had no idea what as going on.


	7. I'll always remember you

So of course, Blaine was accepted into Glee club. And so the weeks went on without anything big happening. Kurt and Blaine walked the hallways together and when people he was scared of would come in sight, he would grab his hand and make everything better. And they didn't see Karofsky. Not one single time. Kurt had no idea how that came, but he wasn't complaining either.

So a few weeks later, Blaine woke up in the middle of the night. And he felt like he was about to die of thirst. So he groaned and scrambled out of bed. By now, he was more comfortable in the Hummel's and Hudson's house and knew it was okay to go to the kitchen and get himself some water.

But when he tip-toed out of his room and entered the hallway, something was off. At first glance, everything was normal; you could even hear Finn's quiet snoring from here. But then there was a thin line of light coming from inside Kurt's room. And there was noise. Not loud or enough to wake anyone, but it was there. Squinting, Blaine tried to focus on the clock hanging on the wall. It was after one in the morning, why the hell was he still up and what was he doing in there?

So he stepped up to the door and knocked as quietly as possible. Following, there was a moment of silence before the noise got a little louder before he reacted to the knock. "Yeah." He said and something in his voice was off. So Blaine pushed the door open.

The room was a mess. Normally, Kurt was very clean and made sure everything was in it's place, but now pictures and photos covered the entire floor and parts of the bed. Apparently he had tried to hide some of them under the bed, hence the louder noise after he had knocked. In the middle of his bed, in the light of the beside lamp, sat Kurt. He sat cross legged and had his head tilted away, but Blaine could still see his puffy eyes and the tear stains on his cheeks. He just looked overall miserable.

"Kurt," he chocked out as he silently closed the door behind him and took a tiny step into the room. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Go back to bed." He swallowed thickly and it sounded like he had been crying for hours but was running out of tears now.

"I won't." Blaine simply said and without asking for permission, he crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Kurt didn't move or say anything. So he bent down to grab a photo from the floor. It showed a beautiful woman who was smiling right into the camera, her brown hair flowing wonderfully over his shoulders.

He took another one. It was the same woman, only this time, she held a baby in her arms and was smiling fondly down towards it, cradling it. Blaine swallowed thickly and with shaky fingers reached out to take one from where Kurt was sitting.

That woman was there again and so was the child, a little older this time and happily holding on to his mother, pulling on her necklace as he laughed straight into the camera, but her eyes were closed so it didn't seem staged. Behind the two of them, stood a man, one arm around the woman and his other hand on the back of his son. That man was Burt Hummel. And this child had incredible resemblance to a younger version of Kurt.

And when he focused back on him, he knew he was right. He opened his mouth but closed it again, carefully putting the photo down. He didn't know what to say, he wasn't even sure if he was assuming the right thing.

"That's my mom." Kurt finally said with a shaky voice. He figured Blaine wouldn't leave anyways, so he might as well tell him. "She died when I was eight." He whispered and closed his eyes again. Turns out he hadn't run out of tears.

Blaine felt a lump in his throat, but did his best not to lose it as well as he carefully climbed over the mountain of pictures and sat back down right next to Kurt. He didn't say anything; he just reached out and wrapped both of his arms around him. This time, Kurt didn't hesitate; he leaned into him immediately and rested his head on his shoulder.

"It's her birthday today." He whispered with a glance to the clock. Since one and a half hours it was her birthday. Blaine was still silent and just gently stroked his hair. "My dad and I always go to her grave. And I never cry. I know it's just going to hurt him too so I try to let it all out the night before." He admitted.

"That's okay." Blaine whispered as Kurt sighed heavily. "No one ever caught me, I usually clean up until the morning."

"Why?" was all Blaine asked. Kurt sighed and leaned even more into him which made Blaine tighten his hold around the other boy. "I love Carole and I know my dad does too. And I don't want to hurt either of them, but… she's still my mom. As much as Carole means to me, she won't be able to replace her." And thankfully, she wasn't trying to either. She was more like a friend to him.

"I know my dad will be down tomorrow but try and cheer me up. And I play along most of the time, I try to act as if I'm better. And I am, most of the time when I think about her, I smile because she was so lovely. But on this day… I just miss her, Blaine." He sobbed softly and Blaine ran a hand through his slightly messy hair, gently rocking him from side to side. "It's okay to miss her." He whispered.

Kurt sniffled and tilted his head to look up at him. I'm in love with you, he thought. "Thank you for being there." He said. Blaine smiled gently and hugged him yet a little tighter before he spoke again. "What do you say? We go to bed and then, tomorrow morning, before anyone wakes up, we clean your room, okay?" he asked.

Kurt didn't want Blaine to leave, he didn't want to be alone again but he knew he was right. Blaine needed to get back into bed, it was almost 2am after all. So he nodded slowly.

But what Blaine did next was very unexpected. He carefully collected the photos from the bed and placed them on the floor before he got a hold of the comforter and the sheets and pushed them back. Sliding under them, he patted the spot next to him. "Come here," he cooed.

"Uh, okay…" Kurt mumbled awkwardly and shifted so he was lying next to Blaine, facing the ceiling. Well yeah, he had no clue what to do.

That was until Blaine leaned over him – oh my god, he was so close suddenly and Kurt could basically smell him – and turned off the light so they were left in complete darkness. Kurt turned, facing away from Blaine because he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

But a moment later he felt him shifting and one arm was thrown over his waist that effectively pulled him close. He felt Blaine's chest against his back and maybe even his breath on the back of his neck. He tried not to shiver.

They stayed like that for a few long moments, simply enjoying each others presence until Kurt worked up all the courage he had and turned around. Though he couldn't see him due to the darkness, he knew he smiled. It was crazy how good they knew each other already.

Kurt didn't say anything, he just leaned his head against his chest and closed his eyes while Blaine rested his chin on the top of his head, his arms still securely around him.

"Good night, Kurt."

"Good night, Blaine."

Maybe, all hope wasn't lost yet. Maybe they still had a shot.


	8. Best for Last

„Please!"

„No."

„Kurt, come on!"

„I said no."

Puck was basically on his knees by now, but Kurt was leaning against his locker, his arms crossed and shook his head. It had been a few weeks since that night when Blaine had cuddled him in the dark and things just kept getting better and better between them. They got more comfortable around each other every day and he felt like he could tell him everything. But right now, he was just annoyed.

"But, Kurt. Your parents are out. Of course we need to have a party at your house!"

"Just because they are going on a trip for their anniversary doesn't mean we have to turn our house in a paradise for the drunk, Noah." He commented.

That's when Blaine came up behind him with raised eyebrows. "What's going on?" he asked and Puck turned towards him.

"Kurt won't let us throw a party when his parents are out of town this weekend." He explained.

"I see." Blaine nodded, not really knowing what to say about that.

"I bet Blainers here would enjoy that too." Puck nodded towards him and Blaine raised an eyebrow at the new nickname.

"I've never really been at a party." He just shrugged and Puck's eyes widened in response.

"No way, man! We need to do that now. Come _on_, Hummel!" he begged again, "We'll play some spin the bottle and dance, that's about it!"

Spin the bottle. _Spin. The. Bottle. _Maybe that could be Kurt's chance. Maybe that could be the way to finally move what Blaine and he had along a little. If he got lucky, he would be able to get a new impression of how a kiss should feel like.

"Fine." He agreed and a smirk broke over Puck's face. "Oh, you like that, huh?" he grinned and Kurt shoved his shoulder, pretending to have to look for something in his locker. "If you want this party to happen, you shut up and leave." He advised.

And Puck did. As he left, he turned again and called over his shoulder. "I'll bring the booze."

"No you won't!" Kurt called back, his eyes wide as he slammed his locker shut, but Puck just waved his hand. Of course he would bring booze.

"That's gonna be fun, right?" Blaine asked with big, puppy-dog eyes. Oh, how Kurt hoped it would be.

So two days later, on Saturday afternoon, Kurt was seated on his couch in the middle of a crazy, Glee club party. Him, Finn and Blaine had spend the entire day planning everything and getting the supplies.

They had, of course, gotten non-alcoholic drinks but once Puck had showed up with the booze, that was forgotten. And now he had no idea why he had even agreed to that. He figured the only sober persons were the three of them and they were the ones who _did not_ have to get home later. Clinging on to his can of coke, he looked around and took in his surroundings.

Quinn was dancing with Lauren while Puck watched with a somewhat pleased grin on his face and rubbed his Mohawk with the hand that was not holding the red plastic cup.

Rachel was sitting on Finn's lap and pointing at various objects in the room, currently giggling at a vase while her boyfriend looked very un-amused.

Artie was on the dance floor, twirling his wheelchair around and looking like he had the time of his life, accompanied by Mercedes and Sam, slow dancing even though the music was fast.

Santana and Brittany, who had obviously made up again, sat on another couch in the corner, Brittany's shirt was already gone and she was cuddling up to Santana in only her bra.

And he didn't even want to know where Mike and Tina had disappeared to about half an hour ago.

And then there was Blaine, trying to dance as well, but bumping against Sam and Artie in turns until he decided to give up. So now he was casually strolling over to Kurt and flopped down on the couch next to him.

"Wow, this is… interesting." He commented, his eyes wandering over the others. "This is madness." Kurt corrected drily and took a sip of his coke. Why couldn't people just stay sober?

"Guys!" Rachel suddenly called out, jumping from Finn's lap. "Spin the bottle!" she called out, "Let's play spin the bottle!"

And freaky enough, Kurt was all for that. So he grabbed Blaine's arm and dragged him along to the middle of the room where Puck had pushed the furniture aside and had placed an empty bottle on the floor. Everyone took a seat, Kurt, of course, right next to Blaine.

"Who starts?" he asked and Brittany started bouncing up and down. "Me, me!" she giggled and didn't even wait for an answer before she went to spin the bottle. It landed on Santana. "Sweet." Puck commented which earned him a shove from Lauren. But Brittany ignored him and happily turned towards Santana, bringing a hand up to her neck and pulling her closer. Everyone was expecting a quick peck, but that's not what happened.

She leaned in and pressed her lips to hers, gently nibbling on her lower lip – and then Santana's mouth opened and her hands flung up to wrap around her waist and a moment later, Brittany was basically in her lap, her hands running through her hair as the kiss grew more passionate by the second. "Uhm, guys?" Finn asked, but they were beyond the point of listening, completely busy with each other.

"Okay, I think we've lost them." Kurt commented and grabbed the bottle. "my turn." He decided, he finally wanted his way. Excitedly, he spun the bottle – only to have it land on Quinn. He scrunched his nose up. Great, that's not what he wanted at all. He didn't want to kiss Quinn. He wanted to kiss Blaine. But now he had no choice. Quinn shrugged slightly and leaned over the bottle, pressing a quick peck to the corner of his mouth, hitting more cheek than anything else.

"Ew." He commented as he pulled back and wiped at his face which made Blaine next to him chuckle and pat his back. Well, at least that was something, he supposed. "Who's next?"

Mercedes ripped his hand up. "Me!" she squealed and spun the bottle, having it land on Sam. With a shy smile on his face, she reached out, luckily having him right next to her as well, and cupped his face to pull him in for a very romantic looking kiss. "This is boring, dude. Couple-kisses are no fun." Puck pouted and grabbed the bottle.

Spinning it eagerly, he watched it go slower – until it stopped at Blaine. He didn't really notice right away but when he saw the bottle was pointing at him, his eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh." Kurt said too. There was no way this was happening. There was no way he didn't get to kiss the boy he was in love with but Puck, straighter than a pole Puck, got to do that.

"You don't … you don't have to…" Blaine stuttered but Puck waved it off, edging forward already. "It's no big deal dude. Now get at it." He demanded and leaned forward.

The moment their lips met, Kurt cringed. He didn't want to see that. Not at all. Especially not the way Puck edged even closer and how his lips were _moving_ against Blaine's as if he was making a show of it. The room was silent, everyone was watching. And Blaine didn't pull back, he stayed where he was and let it happened.

That's when Kurt knew he had no chance. Blaine would never fall in love with him. He even made out with some straight guy here, but he couldn't love Kurt. Who had he been for thinking it was possible? He felt like such a fool for making himself believe that someone like Blaine could fall for someone like him.

He only realized the lump in his throat when the first tear hit the can in his hands. He needed to get out of here and away from this as fast as possible. So he placed his can on the floor and scrambled to his feet. "I-I need to-" he stuttered before he rushed towards the staircase and stumbled upstairs.

As he heard his voice, Blaine immediately pulled back only to see the last glimmer of Kurt disappear. He had screwed up for good.

How could he have been so stupid? Kurt lay face-first on his bed and punched the comforter because the damn thing was not comforting at all. Such a waste of money. Why did he have to fall in love with that perfect smile and those gentle hands and this warm embraces? He didn't know what he had been thinking.

He heared a knock on the door, but didn't answer. He guesses it would be Mercedes or Rachel but at their drunken state of mind, he couldn't handle either of them right now. "Go away." He just called and buried his face in the sheets again.

Nonetheless he heard the door open and close again and a moment later the mattress dipped when some sat down on the edge of the bed. "I said – " he started and rolled around.

But oh, that wasn't Rachel or Mercedes. That was Blaine. He didn't know what to say anymore now, so he shut up.

"Kurt…" he said brokenly and the hurt was evident in his voice. Kurt couldn't take it and sat up, pressing his eyes shut.

"Never mind, Blaine." He muttered. Maybe he hadn't yet caught up to what he felt and they could avoid this.

"No, I do mind. Look at me." He urged and waited silently until Kurt sighed and gave in, locking eyes with him. Those beautiful hazel ones were full of concern and something else Kurt couldn't quite label. "Why are you crying? Is this about Puck?" he asked carefully, obviously trying not to assume something that was not right.

"Yes." Kurt confessed after a rather long break.

"But… I'm sorry." Blaine said and hung his head. He was about to say more when Kurt cut him off. He knew, if he didn't get it all out now, he never would. And now that they had started this, they couldn't just go back to normal anyways, so he might as well be honest now.

"Don't be sorry. I was stupid to believe – to believe you could like me the way I like you." He saw Blaine's mouth open but held up a hand. He needed to get this over with.

"I only agreed to this party because I was hoping to get a shot at kissing you at Spin the Bottle, as pathetic as it is. But I didn't. So I'm sorry for making this all awkward." He finished off, closing his eyes again.

"You could have just told me that though, you know?" Blaine eventually said, a small smile audible in his voice even before Kurt ripped his eyes open.

"What?"

"You could have told me you wanted to kiss me. Or you could have done it."

"But… but…" Kurt stuttered, at a lack of words. What was that supposed to mean? That Blaine was pitying him and allowing him to kiss him? He would pass, thank you very much.

But Blaine reached out and took a gentle held of his hands, smiling up at Kurt. "I wanted to. For a while now." He admitted shyly and Kurt couldn't help but find the blush on his face adorable.

"Why didn't you?" he finally asked, his voice thin.

"Well, first of all, your dad allowed me to live here. If you wouldn't have liked me back, I might have ended up on the street. So that was the egoistic aspect of it." He laughed, interlacing their fingers.

"And secondly, after what you told me about your first kiss, I didn't want to do the same. I didn't want to push you into anything. So I waited." He shrugged, nibbling on his bottom lip as he awaited Kurt's answer.

But it never came. Instead, he tugged on his hand, pulling himself closer to him until he was face to face with him. Only then did he drop his hand to raise onto his knees and cup Blaine's face with both hands. There was a faint smile on his face before he finally leaned in and crushed his lips against Blaine's in a fond but starved kiss.

It was the kind of kiss two people share that know they love each other and don't need words to say it.

And finally, at last, Kurt found what he had been looking for forever and that all just because some family's car broke down right in front of his dad's garage.

* * *

><p><strong>LE FIN.<strong>


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